


Let's do Lunch

by StripedSunhat



Series: Single Father Klaus [11]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Family Bonding, Gen, Klaus is a workaholic, Pre-Canon, Waffles, Why Gil needs therapy, Why Sparks need therapy, improper lab safety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 21:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16818859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripedSunhat/pseuds/StripedSunhat
Summary: Let's face it, Klaus spends as much time with Gil as he does less because he's gotten better about it and more because Gil has learned to make sure Klaus makes time.





	Let's do Lunch

**Author's Note:**

> I've had the roughest of rough ideas for this one since basically the start of this series. This looks absolutely nothing like I'd first thought up. It's a lot more depressing than I'd originally planned. I feel like that's an accidental running theme of this series and I'm not quite sure what to do with that. I'm just going to blame Klaus. It seems like that's the safest bet.

“Father!” Klaus shot up in his seat, prepared for any disaster that could be coming. But no, his son’s face was just as carefree as his tone had suggested and the door was shut firmly behind him.

Nonetheless he leveled a stern look at his son. “You know better than to say that so loudly Gilgamesh. These rooms are not soundproof.” Rather than looking chastised his son merely rolled his eyes. He’d only been been dealing with it for four months and already Klaus hated teenagerdom. He has a sinking feeling it was only going to get worse from here.

“They might not be soundproofed but they’re pretty damn close. And anyway anyone who’d be outside that door at this hour either already knows about me or is an assassin and is therefor going to be dead before the hour.”

“That is hardly appropriate language for the future ruler of Europa,” he said rather than concede his son’s point. Gil’s response is to roll his eyes even harder.

“Anyway can I get to my point now?”

“That all depends on the language you plan on using while doing so.”

“Will you be serious Father?”

Klaus fought back a smirk. “I am being serious, what about you?” Was he being just the slightest bit mean? Perhaps. He couldn’t help it. Winding up his son was far more amusing than it should be.

“Father!”

“Yes?” He responded in his best fake-innocent tone.

Gil dropped into the chair in the corner of the room, half-burying his face in his hand and glaring at Klaus through his fingers. “I hope you have to spend the rest of the day doing paperwork and that no assassins or explosions come to save you.”

“That’s hardly a nice thing to wish upon your own father. I could always give you some of that paperwork to do. I’d give it to the assassins but we both know they have the worst spelling.”

“I don’t know why I try to talk to you,” Gil muttered.

“Well in that case I guess you don’t need me after all.”

“I give up,” Gil announced, standing back up. “It’s not worth it. I’ll try again some other time.”

“No, stay,” Klaus said, waving his son back before he could escape. “I’ll behave, I promise. What is it you wanted Gil?”

Gil eyed him suspiciously before finally stepping away from the door. “I just came to see if you were busy around midday on Wednesday.”

“A large amount of my obligations aren’t schedulable. You know that.”

“I just wanted to know if you had anything official during that time.”

Klaus studied his son but pulled out a hopefully current copy of his schedule. “No, I don’t have anything officially scheduled then.”

“Perfect!” Gil cried, clapping his hands together. “Then I’d like to reserve it now. Please.”

“Gil you are my son; you don’t have to schedule a meeting to see me.”

“I know, I know. It’s just it’s not always easy to know when you’ll have time and I wanted a little, advanced planning time, I guess?” His son phrased it like a question however Klaus could see the tight line of tension in his shoulders. Which was ridiculous, he’s been spending plenty of time with Gilgamesh recently.

Right?

Right and he’d been avoiding tea for the last three days for no reason at all. “I’ll be there.”

“Great! I’ll make sure it gets on your schedule – not as anything related to me, don’t worry – and if and if anything comes up –”

Klaus cut him off. “Gil. I’ll be there.”

Gilgamesh stopped. Stopped moving entirely. For a second Klaus was concerned he wasn’t even breathing. “Oh,” he finally said in a very small voice. “Um. Okay.” The easy, carefree smile that Gil wore so often was replaced with a different one. Small and hopeful and not one Klaus saw very much anymore. “Right. I’ll – I’ll see you then. I should – I should let you get back to work. I’m sure you’ve got a lot to do. And I’ll see you Wednesday. Great!” And with that somewhat babbling speech Gil half-tripped out the door, leaving Klaus wondering what exactly had just happened.

* * *

Wednesday midmorning, a little less than an hour before he’s supposed to meet Gil, an assassin blew a hole in the airship. A big one.

Klaus cursed even as he ran towards the flames. This was going to take a lot longer than an hour to fix.

* * *

When he finally got everything enough under control that his staff could handle it, it was past two in the morning. He stormed past the still-smoldering bits of metal, grumbling under his breath all the while. Not only had he missed his appointment with Gil, he’d missed Wednesday entirely. Perfect.

There was a note waiting for him in the center of his desk when he got to his office.

**Herr Baron**

**I think half the airship almost blowing up more than counts as an emergency. We can reschedule for another time when the airship’s not actively burning.**

**I’ll be in the lab until midnight if you manage to wrap things up before then.**

**It would be nice to see you.**

**Sincerely yours.**

It was well past midnight. Klaus went down to their shared lab anyway.

Gil was asleep slumped over a table. It wasn’t what Klaus had expected to find. He’d expected an empty, dark, _silent_ lab and the bitter curl of disappointment. Instead he got a sleeping son, waiting for him.

For one brief, endless second Klaus was absolutely certain he has never done and never will do anything good enough to deserve Gilgamesh.

Gil let out a quiet snore and the spell is broken.

“Gil.” Gil stirred slightly but didn’t wake. “Gil. Wake up. You need to go to bed.”

“’M pretty sure that’s an oxymoron,” Gil mumbled, barely understandable.

“You have school tomorrow.”

“No ’don’t. Canceled. Classroom caught fire.”

“That’s hardly an excuse.”

“That’s not why. The fire-extinguisher clank overreacted and filled the room with foam. It’ll take a few days to excavate.”

Klaus rolled his eyes, walking further into the lab. There was a wicker basket in the middle of the floor. Klaus stared at it. That too he wasn’t what Klaus had expected to find. The side of was stuck full of scalpels. It looked like Gil had been throwing them at it. “Were you angry at the basket?”

“Huh? Oh. No, it was just, um, something to do to pass the time while I was waiting.” For the second time that night Klaus was struck with just how little he deserved his son.

“I will admit I am a little late.”

“The airship was on fire. I’m pretty sure that counts as a good excuse.”

“It’s not one I would have accepted from you. I’m sorry.”

Gil stared at him slack-jawed for a minute. His mouth slowly crept into a smile. “Maybe I’m just more forgiving than you.”

“So, why is the basket here? Surely you didn’t bring it with you just as something to throw knives at.”

“I, um, I already had it packed before the explosion this morning.”

“Really? Why?”

“I figured we could have lunch together.”

“Lunch,” Klaus repeated.

“Yes. Lunch.” The line of tension was back in Gilgamesh’s shoulders. “We never eat any meals together. Even though Sleipnir does every time she goes and visits her parents. And Nick and Z and – And you’re here all the _time_. And I just figured we could have a meal together, like a _normal_ family – He cut himself off, all but radiating tension. This is what Klaus got for being nice and letting the students visit their families. Who cared if it was a good political move, making sure family ties were still strong and those on the ground still cared about their hostage if it ended up leading to moments like this. “You know what?” Gil asked suddenly, “Why don’t just we eat it now?”

“It’s two forty-two in the morning.”

“So?” Gil demanded. He began almost aggressively unpacking the basket. “I missed dinner. And no way have you eaten in at least fifteen hours.” Klaus decided not to inform Gil he’d skipped breakfast that morning in favor of paperwork. “I don’t see why not.”

“Gil.”

Gil ignored him, setting the thermos down with far more force than necessary. “We need to eat at some point. So why shouldn’t we.” He pulled out a sandwich.

“Gilgamesh _wait_.” Gil froze, sandwich still in his hands. He carefully set it down. Then he snatched it up again and shoved it back into the basket.

“This was stupid. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Gil.”

“It’s just – But you’re right, it’s not –”

“Gilgamesh.”

“I just wanted – Nevermind. It’s stupid.”

 **“Gilgamesh. Stop.”** Gil froze yet again. His empty hand had curled into a fist, nails biting into his palm. “If you’d just let me _speak_ I was going to say I think it’s a terrific idea.”

“Oh. Then why –”

“I was merely going to suggest we relocate somewhere that’s not the lab first to avoid the rather massive risk of hazardous chemical spills.”

“I ate lunch in here. I was fine.”

A headache spontaneously began forming behind Klaus’s eyes. “And we will apparently be reviewing lab safety yet again this week. Come along; we can eat in the dining room.”

“Isn’t that a bit public?” Gil asked even as he obediently picked up the basket.

“My private dining room Gilgamesh.”

“You have a dining room?”

His son was actually an intelligent young man. “In my quarters.”

“Really?” Honestly, he was.

“You’ve been in my quarters countless times, have you really never seen it?”

“Nope. Although I guess makes sense for you to have one if I think about it. Kind of.”

“Kind of. Where did you think I ate?”

Gil shrugged. “I guess I never thought about it. Except for the little cakes Zoing sometimes brings with tea I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat.” They walked in silence for several hallways before Gil said, “You really have a dining room?”

“Yes Gil. I really have a dining room.”

“With a table and everything?”

“ _Yes_ Gil. With a table.”

“Huh.”

* * *

He did in fact have a table. It was ash grey, so pale it was nearly white. It sat in the middle of the dining room surrounded by at least four times as many chairs as Klaus was sure had ever been needed. The entire room smelled like stale air and dust. Klaus frowned. He knew it had been a little while but he could have sworn he used the room _occasionally_. Gil dragged his finger across the table’s surface, revealing it to actually be dark, rich mahogany. Apparently not. “Father I think I trust the potential hazardous chemical spills more.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Gil raised an eyebrow. Without saying anything he held the basket out over the table. Still looking straight at Klaus he dropped it. The resulting cloud billowed into the air filling the room. Klaus hacked as he tried ineffectively to wave the dust away. “Alright,” he coughed, still swiping at the air, “You’ve proven your point.”

They moved into the sitting room. It had tables they could _trust_. Gil had packed enough food to feed an army. And thanks to Gil’s little stunt they were all covered in dust. Klaus dropped the sandwich back into the basket. The dust cloud, while not as blinding as the previous one, was still impressive. Gil coughed, blinking rapidly. “Um, Oops?”

“I think we’re going to need different food.

In the end they wound up camping out in Klaus’s personal lab. Klaus fired up his automated waffle-maker (never fugue while hungry, you get the _weirdest_ results) and Gil mixed up tea and coffee in some empty beakers (it had a nickel aftertaste that should probably be worrying but was still the best tea Klaus had had in weeks). There weren’t any chairs or even stools in the lab so they ended up stretched out on the floor, a small mountain of waffles between them. Gil tried to drown his waffles in syrup and Klaus made a waffle sandwich out of the fruit preserves. At some point they constructed a tower that ended up being taller than either of them.

Eventually Gil fell asleep, still clutching the syrup bottle. Klaus smiled as he gently extricated it from his son’s grip. He should wake him up and send him to bed. Instead he draped his coat over him and wrote him a note for when he woke up then slipped out of the lab.

It was already eight o’clock. Klaus barely made it three steps before getting swarmed by an entire gaggle of advisors and underlings who’d been searching for him. It took a good twenty minutes to confirm that no he wasn’t dead and to send them all off scattering to their respective duties. Among the group was Jacob, one of his oldest assistants and one of the small handful he trusted with knowledge of Gil. As the others filed out he pulled him aside.

“Yes Herr Baron?” Jacob asked.

“Gil is asleep in my lab. When he wakes up make sure he gets back to the school in one piece.”

“Of course Herr Baron. Anything else?”

“Yes. Find one of the cleaning crew that can be trusted in my quarters and have them clean the dining room. It’s a breeding ground for biological contamination.” Jacob stopped, brow furrowing. “What is it?” Klaus snapped.

“I wasn’t aware your quarters had a dining room, Herr Baron.”


End file.
